Why Mistakes Are Really A Lesson Learned

“Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.” - Henry Ford

When do you learn most in this life? Of course, you learn from school, books, your parents…and the list could go on for days. All of those listed makes sense, but the best teacher in life is your mistakes. We’ve all made plenty of mistakes during our lives- enough to probably fill up several books. However, those who make the most mistakes are those who stand to learn the most, that is, only if they can identify the wrongdoing, own up to it and understand the reason behind it.

Take Olympic Gold Medalist, Gabby Douglas, for example. Her first experience with gymnastics came when she was only three-years-old. By age four, she taught herself to do a one-handed cartwheel. By the age of six, she started taking formal gymnastics classes and then two years later, in 2004, she was named VA State Gymnastics champion. After years of winning championships and training with some of the best coaches, she won the Olympic Trials and was selected to represent the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Gabby prepared her entire life for this moment. Not only was she the first African-American to make the U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team since Dominique Dawes in 2000, but she also garnered attention from Martha Karolyi, the U.S. women’s national team coordinator, who nicknamed her “Flying Squirrel.” At the games, her team took home the gold medal (which was the first gold medal for the American women’s gymnastics team since 1996), but little did Gabby know that this success would not carry for the entire competition. Following two golds, she competed in the individual uneven bars and the individual beam events, but failed to medal in each, placing eighth and seventh place. She had a few wobbles during her performance accompanied by physical and emotional fatigue. Even if Douglas executed to perfection, she would have still ranked no higher than fourth overall. “I made a little mistake, but I’m human.” Douglas states. Regardless of this upset, Douglas identified where she made her mistake, determined her plan of action for the next Olympic games and continues to be one of the best gymnasts of our time, only because she was able to follow these steps:

1. Acknowledge the mistake

2. Understand why the mistake was made

3. Determine a plan of action to avoid the mistake

4. Move forward

We must always learn to embrace failures, not as a flaw in you or your character, but merely as an obstacle that you can overcome. You must always find a way to listen to that “inner warrior” voice that tells you how amazing you are and that you’ll do better next time. Without the courage to tell yourself this, you’re choosing to give up on your journey towards being the best. Take all of your experiences with making a mistake as a teaching moment about what “did” and “did not” work. Mistakes do not define you; they only allow you to be a smarter, more prepared version of yourself.

“Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

Faith and courage play a huge role in the process of overcoming a mistake — no matter what religion you practice. In the Bible, Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for; it is being certain of what we do not see.” Trusting in a higher power or solely in yourself is the key to getting over failure and knowing that this is the not the end, but merely a time to reflect on what you could’ve done better.

In addition to this, make sure your support system (i.e., friends and family) is solid. What you tell yourself during times of hardship is just as important as what your family and friends do or say to keep you in good spirits. At a certain point in life, one must “delete” anything or anyone that does not promote positivity or help you grow. The end goal is to remember that, “failure isn’t someone who fails, failure is someone who refuses to keep going after they have failed.” Mike Rodriguez.